Preschool, Is It Worth It?

It's called the "zero to five" plan, its President Obama's goal to federally fund state preschools. But some opponents say not every child needs it.

Tell that to the kids at A New Adventure Preschool who think its all fun and games. Teacher Katherine Hallan Scott incorporates learning into all her games. "If you try and present materials in a playful form they pick it up naturally, it's like learning without knowing what they are doing." Hallan Scott has been teaching preschool for 35 years and says what children learn has drastically changed. "I started out teaching nursery rhymes now I'm teaching fractions," says, Hallan Scott.

Mesa State professor and teacher of twenty years, Cynthia Chovich says about preschool, "A lot of it used to be just a place kinda a babysitting, that kind of thing." But all that has changed. "It was pretty easy to tell which children had been to a structured preschool." says, Chovich. "The kids that come in strong with literacy skills are going to be your early readers and your early writers so they are never playing catch up."

That's something Hallan Scott knows first hand. "Kids are reading by the time they either enter kindergarten or leave kindergarten so everything is basically come down one full grade level."

Its important says Hallan Scott to learn the basics. "Be able to write the letters they need to know their colors their number their shapes." But more importantly to have fun doing it.

"I think it's the foundation that sets them up for success in their academic career," says, Chovich.

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